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In general, it is assumed that the chair of the Federal Reserve Board is the leader of the Fed. But is that necessarily the case? During the 1920s, Benjamin Strong was effectively the leader of the Fed, despite being merely the president of one of its regional banks (the admittedly important New York Fed). Nothing .. MORE
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Finance
In the May 8 edition (electronic) of the Wall Street Journal, editorial writer Kimberley A. Strassel published an editorial titled “America Inc.’s Balance Sheet.” In it, she considered the proposals of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum (one of my two favorite Trump cabinet members, although I would have liked even better if Trump had chosen .. MORE
Liberty
Back in January, Tyler Cowen did a post entitled: Congratulations to Christopher Rufo and Richard Hanania This was in reference to their role in fighting DEI policies: As most of you already know, the Trump administration through Executive Orders has taken major steps against affirmative action and also DEI. We will see how the details .. MORE
Free Markets
For more than two decades, Disco Corp., a Japanese company with $25 billion in annual sales, has been trying to operate as if its 7,000 employees were independent contractors in the open market. The 87-year-old company now manufactures three-fourths of all the machines to cut, grind, and dice semiconductors. An interesting story in the Financial .. MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
In a previous post, I described some cases of the use of discretion in law enforcement from Barry Lam’s book Fewer Rules, Better People. But while citing individual cases can be useful for illustrating an idea, coming to a decision on whether or when discretion should take precedence over legalism can’t be made by citing .. MORE
Regulation
I realize that people get tired of me continually harping on the “never reason from a . . . ” maxim, but it’s a continual problem. A recent NBER study of housing by Schuyler Louie, John A. Mondragon, and Johannes Wieland had the following abstract: The standard view of housing markets holds that the flexibility .. MORE
Central Planning
Recently, Donald Trump stated that Americans are too wealthy and that his tariffs will fix that: Somebody said, ‘Oh the shelves are going to be open.’ Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls. And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple bucks more than they would normally. Indeed, such .. MORE
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In a previous post, I described some cases of the use of discretion in law enforcement from Barry Lam’s book Fewer Rules, Better People. But while citing individual cases can be useful for illustrating an idea, coming to a decision on whether or when discretion should take precedence over legalism can’t be made by citing .. MORE
Economic Methods
First, Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers who are reading this post. CBO Score Shows Medicaid Is Inefficient and Current Spending Levels Unpopular by Michael F. Cannon, Cato at Liberty, May 7, 2025, Excerpts: These projections reveal a troubling and dangerous aspect of Medicaid. If the CBO’s assumptions are reasonable, they further suggest—and I .. MORE
Economic Education
Question: Suppose the market price of gasoline is $5.00 per gallon. Politicians, responding to their constituents who believe that such a price is outrageous, impose a price control of $2.00 per gallon. At this price, you want to buy 9 gallons of gasoline per week but gas stations are now only willing to sell you .. MORE
This article has two lists: a list of popular economics books that I recommend reading; and a list of popular economics books that I recommend avoiding.1 What is a popular economics book? My first thought is that it is written without the mathematics and diagrams that economists use when teaching courses. My second thought is .. MORE
A Liberty Classic Book Review of The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy, by James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock.1 First published sixty years ago this year, James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock‘s The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy is widely recognized as a seminal work in the development of the .. MORE
A Book Review of Time For Socialism, by Thomas Piketty.1 Time For Socialism author Thomas Piketty boasts a doctorate in economics, publishes papers regularly in top economics journals, teaches economics at the Paris School of Economics, and was once on the economics faculty at M.I.T. Yet not only are the 333 pages of his 2021 .. MORE
A Book Review of Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law, by Neil Gorsuch and Janie Nitze.1 Liberties, Thomas Hobbes wrote, “depend on the silence of the law.” Nowadays the law is very chatty. Here are three examples from the new book by Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and Janie Nitze, Over Ruled: .. MORE
Yes, it's possible. But the key difference is that unlike Maduro, Trump's successor will have to win a free election. It's obviously very early. But so far, Trump's coalition is showing signs of shrinking rather..
MarkW, May 13